Ed Koch, Big Apple Icon, Dies at 88

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Early this morning, Ed Koch, best known as the three-term mayor of New York City, died. There are already so many great works of writing to read, both written by him in the past and written about him this morning, as is the state of obituaries for important men coming to their end. But here, in short, is one lesson to learn from Ed Koch: You can be many more than one thing in a lifetime. He was a World War II infantryman. A lawyer. A combatant against—and victor over—Tammany Hall. A congressman. A mayor. A failed gubernatorial candidate. A mayor. A mayor who hand delivered his own cookies to his less fortunate constituents on Thanksgiving and Christmas. An SNL host. A big, irremovable rock in both Jesse Jackson and Rudy Guiliani and Jimmy Carter's shoe. A man who received emails but responded in handwriting. A memoirist and children's book author. A film critic and an actor. A wry, brash focal point who maintained his privacy when he wanted. A child of the Bronx; a Manhattanite; a symbol of New York. A survivor of a stroke, and a fatal victim of heart failure. An orator of his own obituary; "just this little Jewish kid." All till the age of 88.